An NSF CAREER Proposal Writing Workshop will be held on April 15, 2011 (tentative), at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA. The objective of this workshop is to enable future CISE proposal submitters to prepare competitive CAREER proposals. The major components of the workshop include presentations on NSF proposal guideline and proposal writing, experience sharing, mock panels, and proposal clinic. The workshop intends to provide young faculty with skills in proposal writing, panel review experience, and opportunities to interact with NSF program directors and recent NSF CAREER awardees. This workshop will also provide travel support to encourage junior faculty members at HBCU/MEI to participate the NSF CAREER proposal writing practice. Intellectual merit
Major activities of the workshop include: presentations by NSF program directors, invited speakers, and recent NSF CAREER awardees; mock panel review sessions; interactions among workshop participants, NSF program directors, and recent NSF CAREER awardees; and proposal clinic. The workshop materials will be available in workshop website and the presentations in the workshop will be podcasted via the internet.
Broader impacts
The workshop will be open to participants from U.S. national universities (including HBCU/MEI). About 100 junior faculty members (about 16 or more of them are from HBCU/MEI) across the nation are expected to attend the workshop. They will learn the guidelines and obtain experience of writing a competitive NSF CAREER proposal. This will positively affect these young faculty members at their early career stage to develop their academic career as outstanding researchers and educators.
An NSF Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) CAREER Proposal Writing Workshop was held on April 15, 2011, at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA. 113 junior faculty members in CISE discipline have attended the workshop, including 18 from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) or Minority Educational Institutions (MEIs). This workshop was composed of four major components, including "Introduction to NSF CISE and NSF CAREER Program," "Experience Sharing," "Mock Panel," and "Proposal Clinic." Seminars of describing NSF proposal writing guidelines and CISE programs were presented by the NSF program directors in the introduction session. In "Experience Sharing," three recent CAREER awardees shared their experience as well as lessons on CAREER proposal writing. The "Mock Panel" simulated the procedure in a typical NSF proposal panel meeting. During the "Proposal Clinic" session, the workshop participants had interactive discussion on their research projects. The workshop has provided young faculty members in CISE discipline at their early career stage with proposal writing/reviewing experience and helped them develop their academic career as outstanding researchers and educators. The survey conducted after the workshop shows that more than 90% of the workshop participants have found this workshop very helpful. As high as 98.3% of the participants suggested that the NSF CISE CAREER proposal writing workshop should be held annually. In addition to its primary goal of improving CAREER proposal writing skills of young faculty, the workshop is also found by many participants to be a useful vehicle to build new collaboration among young CISE faculty members across different universities in the US.
